Blizzard Watch Weekly: New games are great, but how about a fancy hat?

I’d say I’m sorry for making every week’s wrap-up about transmog, but I’m not that sorry. This week on the podcast Joe had to remind Matt and myself that there were other things to talk about, despite the allure of attractive digital hats — so if you’re into that kind of thing, certainly hit up the podcast. WoW players also shouldn’t forget about the March Trading Post and this week’s Comp Stomp Brawl which makes it easy for even us PVE-ers to earn honor to buy transmog (of course).

Otherwise, here’s what’s new and what’s coming soon in the world of Blizzard games.

New this week

• Cataclysm Classic just entered beta, giving us our first look at how the game has changed to fit into the Classic format. It’s a closed beta, so if you want in you’ll have to sign up.
• Warcraft Rumble Season 4 just launched, with a chance to earn the new Witch Doctor mini (at least if you play enough, which I haven’t been lately). The new season also comes with a buff to quest rewards, which may even out the leveling curve a bit and make it easier to advance.
• Diablo 4’s Gauntlet is now live. Run this dungeon-of-the-week to earn bragging rights and a coveted spot on the weekly leaderboards. Gauntlets are interesting, non-linear dungeons that challenge you to choose the best route, but my biggest complaint is that they’re max level content only available to seasonal players — and it still takes a lot of time to hit level 100 in the game.

Coming soon

• March 11: Hearthstone turns 10! The game has been celebrating its birthday with special gifts for a while now, but more is coming for the game’s official anniversary on March 11 — including a new Hearthsteed for World of Warcraft.
• March 12: Critical Role’s Daggerheart TTRPG enters playtesting on March 12, and we’re looking forward to checking it out. We may do a few podcasts demoing the game soon (or soonish).
• March 12: In Overwatch, crossovers are the name of the game: a Cowboy Bebop crossover event starts March 12 with unique themed skins that are already a hit around the Blizzard Watch office. The Overwatch team also announced an oddly-themed Porsche crossover launching with Season 10 in April, featuring a D.Va skin inspired by the Macan EV.

This week’s podcasts

Sorry folks, there was no Lore Watch this past week but we do have a great episode of the main podcast for you, and we’re recording an episode of our long-neglected Tavern Watch TTRPG podcast soon.

• Blizzard Watch Podcast: The terrible treachery we’d undertake for trendy transmog

What to play this weekend

A lot of great games are vying for our attention right now, particularly from the Steam Women’s Day Sale, which features tons of indie titles from women-led studios, from Skatebird (an excellent game about a skateboarding bird) to Frog Detective (a game that I desperately hope is really about a frog with a side gig as a detective). Check out this week’s list of game recommendations if you need something to play this weekend.

Follow us on social media!

As social media has fragmented and our readers have ventured off to new places, it’s become a little harder to keep track of Blizzard Watch online. We have a rundown of all the social networks we’re currently on — but let me know if you’d like to see us somewhere new and I’ll try to oblige. (However, there are only so many hours in a day I can devote to posting on social media.)